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Having problems with insurance, repairs and manufacturer

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Hi, have Phonak Virto 70 bought in Ohio through insurance and moved to another sate. Now I need repair under warranty and was told that any audiologist that takes the insurance should do the repair. I have been calling and the audiologists say we won’t send them in for repair or look at them because you didn’t buy from us. I say, I can’t go all the way back to another state just for repair, you are supposed to fix them. I finally found an audiologist at a hospital who agreed to send the aid into Phonak for repair. It took more than 3 weeks but it was fixed. Then I dropped the other aid and broke the shell and dropped it off at the same audiology office. They assigned it to the extern who only comes in once a week and so they waited five days to send it into Phonak and told me that when it comes back they will need to reprogram it but because I didn’t buy it from them, they will charge an additional $500 for reprogramming the aids which are still under manufacture’s warranty. This is in addition to the $60 restocking fee which I already agreed to pay. Since now both hearing aids will be repaired and are just under 3 years old, I would like to keep them. I told some of the offices I talked to that if I buy a car and move to another state, no one says you have to go back to where you bought it to have it repaired, why should it be this way with hearing aids. When I called the insurance, Hearing Care Solutions, they said that any audiologist that takes this insurance and works with Phonak should help me with repairs but they are not required to do it. Are other people having experiences with long waiting times for repair with the manufacturer? Are others having problems with the insurance now offered through Medicare Advantage plans? Hearing Care Solutions only offered one audiologist in my area in Ohio that took that insurance and the price I paid after insurance was applied was about the same as what I would have paid at Costco without insurance. I am wondering if it is just a low priority to do repairs since they would rather sell me a brand new pair.

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I think this is a woke (I meant grey) area, some audiologist are helpful and some are less/not helpful.
If you speak to phonak customer services, they will tell you that any audiologist can send the to phonak, assuming the HA are still under phonak’s warranty.
Unless Phonak send you a brand new replacement, I don’t see the reason for re-programming the HA; But, you could re-program them yourself if you are adventurous and save some $$$.
You could call phonak customer services and see what they say.

@montieth said:

Now I need repair under warranty and was told that any audiologist that takes the insurance should do the repair.

I don’t understand this part, if they are under warranty, insurance doesn’t have anything to do with the repairs, Phonak covers the repair, you may need to pay for shipping but that’s it.

@montieth said:

I have been calling and the audiologists say we won’t send them in for repair or look at them because you didn’t buy from us

That’s just outrageous, there’s no cost if you pay shipping to have them to send back to Phonak, it’s just a cop out and plain lazy, especially if they sell Phonak , if they do, complain directly to Phonak about their behaviour.
The clinic at the hospital isn’t any better in trying to charge with a cost of $500 for reprogramming, honestly all this your going through just shows how pathetic this industry is, I mean, you can’t hear without your HAs and these people couldn’t give a stuff, like too bad not our problem! Your point about the car is perfectly correct, any normal person would think like this, I still don’t understand the insurance thingy that you’ve mentioned a few times, it’s on Phonak to sort any warranty for any manufacturers fault.
After all this you won’t want to deal with these independent clinics,so why not just update to premium HAs from Costco, you’ll need to go for type, but still better service then the appalling service you’ve had so far from this lot!

Thanks for your response. Yes, what you say makes sense. At this point I should be able to have any hearing aid specialist who deals with Phonak take care of the manufacturers warranty. The hospital has been doing it after reluctantly agreeing and it is an indication of problems in the industry. The Insurance is a subcontractor with Anthem Health Insurance and when I purchased the hearing aids through them, they said that any deater who takes that insurance would handle cleanings, repairs and sending the aids back to the manufacturer per their agreement with the insurance company. Interestingly, Beltone Hearing Centers have been very cooperative in cleaning my aids for free but since they don’t deal with Phonak they don’t send them to the manufacturer.

In reply to @Baltazard

Thanks Baltazerd, I will call Phonak customer service. This is a good idea.The one that is in repair right now had a broken shell and I was told it did have to be remade. It is in the ear.

Make an FTC complaint and write Phonak to demand reimbursement of fees you paid. The hearing aid manufacturers seem to be getting away with consumers incurring these fees for warranty service anywhere other than the place of original purchase which despite whatever fine print in the warranty could be unlawful because there may be no way to access the warranty at all without those fees and/or inconvenience costs and Phonak has no way to control what those fees are or which providers will even honor the warranty. These types of complaints might slowly reform the entire industry.

The manufacturer warranty is attached to the device serial numbers and not to any specific clinic or office. This means that if you go to another office, as long as a device is still under the manufacturer warranty, manufacturer repairs should be covered. However, you should expect audiologists or hearing aid dispensers to charge for their time and resources, as manufacturers do not pay or reimburse for clinic time and services.

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